A SUPERMARKET chain has raised the ire of lamb producers by claiming the product on its shelves is hormone free.
This despite hormones never being used in lamb production in Australia.
Melbourne supermarket chain Maxi Foods has signs on the meat shelves of its Blackburn and Upper Ferntree Gully stores advertising that "All our beef, lamb and pork are Australian grown with no added hormones".
The chain is following Coles, which began advertising HGP-free beef last year.
The advertising has angered the Sheepmeat Council, which said hormones have never been used in lamb production in Australia.
President Kate Joseph said growth hormones were never used because they were not needed.
"The lambs grow really well without hormones," Ms Joseph said. "We can grow our lamb to the right weight through breeding and feeding and we do it all without hormones.
"To say this supermarket's meat is hormone free is misleading because (hormones) have never been used in lamb production."
The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority confirmed no hormones were registered for use in lamb production in Australia.
Victorian Farmers Federation livestock group president Chris Nixon said the claim was "concerning, because it is not true".
"The implication is that hormones are being used somewhere," he said.
Mr Nixon said the chickenmeat industry had suffered from a similar situation where a retailer claimed its product was hormone free.
"Hormones haven't been used in chickenmeat production for 40 years," he said.
FoodLegal's principal specialist food lawyers Joe Lederman said if there was an implied comparative claim against a product of others in the same market then that could be misleading.
He said action could be taken by the competitors, the industry and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission because the comparison was false.
Maxi Foods could not be contacted for a comment before deadline.
